Developing wireless enterprise applications

There are many kinds of mobile applications and many different categorizations. It's useful to consider the differences between connectionless and connected applications. Connectionless applications generally work without access to any remote device or server (although they may periodically "sync" with other systems). Connected applications generally work in concert with a remote system (although they may also have periods where access to the remote system is unavailable). And of course, systems can be a mix of both.

Connectionless applications tend to focus on personal productivity - storing memos, accessing phone numbers, etc. On the other hand, enterprise users generally need access to enterprise information - data that is not generally available on the mobile device itself and so can only be leveraged in a connected application. Until now most applications on mobile devices have been of the connectionless variety. There are many reasons for this, but the most significant have been the lack of reliable connectivity and the complexity of developing such applications. However, as wireless networks become more and more pervasive, and as enterprise applications continue to migrate out of the back-offices, the demand for connected applications will increase.

Indeed we already see signs of this demand in the embracing of J2ME by various wireless companies as well as a flurry of Java Specification Requests (JSRs) on the topic (JSRs 62, 120, 124, and 129, for example). The thrust of these efforts is to give developers the components and tools that they need to create applications that run over wireless networks in the same ways that developers are able to create applications for wired networks today.